Stella d’Oro holds the record as the longest blooming daylily. One of the first to bloom- sometimes as early as May- Stella is also one of the last to quit, frequently flowering into October. It’s a true everbloomer, not just a rebloomer, and it will behave this way even in the coldest climates where rebloomers tend not to repeat. At 12″ tall and 24″ wide, it’s also one of the smallest, able to fit into any setting. Small wonder it’s an award winner and the most popular daylily around!
Stella, like most daylilies, is not picky as to soil although it will do better when there is some humus in the ground. Drought tolerant once established, it will live in all coldness zones and all heat zones in the USA. It’s pest free but is susceptible to daylily rust. While it can tolerate light shade, it blooms best in full sun. Because of its profuse blooming, it should be fed every six weeks during the growing season.
Stella d’Oro- which means ‘Star of Gold’- has attractive, rabbit-resistant foliage (a number of otherwise beautiful daylilies have thin, sparse foliage that make them look ill fed) that goes dormant in all zones, even the warmest. The flowers are bright yellow, lightly ruffled, slightly recurved and have a light fragrance. They attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The plant will bloom heavier if you keep the spent flowers picked off; once all the flowers on a stem have died, cut the whole stem off at the base.
Because of its size and continual blooming, Stella is good in rock gardens, containers, as an edging to borders, and as massed specimens. I was surprised when I first saw it in containers up here; most perennials cannot take the hard freeze that plants get in a container vs. in the ground. This plant, however, takes it and smiles.
Good companions for Stella d’Oro include Veronica ‘Royal Blue’ (this is my favorite match for her) which blooms twice in a season in a cascade of blue blooms; hardy geraniums, especially ‘Buxton’s Blue’ or ‘Johnson’s Blue’; tradescantia which copies Stella’s foliage and whose purple flowers contrast beautifully; salvia superba with it’s continuous purple spikes; lavender; ‘Amber Waves’ heuchera; blue centaurea Montana; the peach flowered Jacob’s Ladder; and violets or vinca minor for a ground cover under it.
Stella has been used for breeding, although so far none of her children have improved upon her. There are a couple of newer offspring out there that I’m interested in trying, though: ‘Ruby Stella’ and ‘Purple d’Oro’ (Purple of gold? Odd name) both of which claim to have inherited Stella’s everblooming quality. I hope that they are as good as she is, but it’s a hard standard to live up to!
